Smell the salt, taste the salt.

I haven't seen the crying opossum car lately, but the other day I saw a white Kia Soul with a Stormtrooper bumper sticker on it. I nearly pissed myself laughing on my way to work because it's completely fitting to have that decal on the back of the car since the automobile looks like a helmet on wheels. Seeing those two things together is (so far) once in a lifetime, so I didn't get a picture of it. If I see it again, I'll try to snap a photo.

I bought a 24 count of Liquid I.V. Hydration Multiplier - Lemon Lime - Hydration Powder Packets at one of the big warehouse stores (ok, Costco) last time I was there. I figured "summer's coming, the humidity is going to be a real pain on me and I need something to flush the heat away without making me feel gross every time I'm pulling a table around campus". 

So I snagged the (very expensive) bag without trying the powder first. 

Well, here I am now trudging though them and I'm not at that job any more.

First impression: 

You open the main bag and you can smell the sodium wafting from the sticks.

There must be an open packet somewhere...

Once you open an individual tube, you smell it worse. Put the light blue powder in water and you can feel your ankles swell after one little sip. 

All 500mg of salt is detected in both scent and taste before you finish a 24 ounce glass of water. Add an Emergen-C packet to it, and you've got yourself a few steps closer to the daily dose of Periodic Table #11. 

Outside of the salt problem, there's an odd "this seems familiar" flare to it... when it is in water, it's more pronounced. The sweet sugar smell mixed with the electrolytes plus sodium, equal this powder is a Gatorade knockoff. Since it's lemon lime, the additives (or whatever the hell it is) make it worse - we all know what the Gator's favorite drink tastes like... imagine it now in a powder and someone else's name. 

I'm so mad at myself for buying this. I've had no problems with the Liquid I.V. Energy Multiplier | Energy Powder Drink Sticks and even though its green color mixed with the orange vitamin c packet looks like sludge, it isn't that bad of a drink. No off putting smell, no after taste, just a simple refresh of lemon ginger mixed with the super orange sick drink. I've probably purchased at least a dozen bags of this specific mix over the last two years and have had no problems with it. I actually thrown in a lemon slice some times and end up refilling my tumbler more for the residue of the powder than "I need to stay hydrated... yay H2O!". 

Where as the Hydration Multiplier, I refill my cup enough times to make sure I flush out all the milligrams of surprise and not keep more than I need. Sure, there's 120mg less in the green stick, but I'll take it over the other one any day.

Until I can find something new to drink, stay cool.

Cheers;